Christmas in Mystic Falls
by Caty C
Summary: Told from Damon's point of view. There is trouble in Mystic Falls: Klaus has come and is threatening Elena, and Damon must do whatever he can to stop him. Can Damon save her before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

December 23 

Christmas was always my favorite time of year. The snow drifted to the ground like a delicate dancer, and the lights on the houses reflected off the ice. People were just now getting Christmas trees, even though it was December 23, and the remaining Lockwood's were throwing their annual Christmas party. The generosity this time of year was incredible; people were eager to give to the needy in any way that they could, which was perfect for Stefan and I. Generosity in donating blood meant more blood for us.

My younger brother Stefan and I had been in Mystic Falls now for a year and a half. Last year, we hadn't celebrated Christmas (Stefan and Elena drama), and I was actually looking forward to decorating a tree this year. Despite what Elena thinks, I do not have a heart made of stone; I actually enjoy the Christmas season. But through all of the dazzling lights and shiny Christmas wrapping paper, there was only one thing on my mind: Elena.

How could this insignificant human girl have this much power over me? I am Damon Salvatore, for heaven's sake. Elena was just a girl: tall, slender, beautiful, kind brown eyes…..If Stefan knew what I was thinking right now, my head would be on a platter. But I had other things on my mind. Stefan had tasked me with finding a large Christmas tree for the house, but all of the ones I had been finding so far were useless pieces of firewood. I needed a REAL tree, something that would impress not only Stefan but Elena as well. After all that Stefan and I had done since we'd come back, after all the pain we'd caused her, she deserved a perfectly good Christmas. And I was going to be the one to give it to her.

I ran quickly back through town until I got to the forest, sure that I would find a tree here. I started to walk, looking at every tree on my way and seeing if it was the one. I kept going, hopeful that I would find one soon, but I found something that I did not expect. A tall man was standing in my path, looking directly at me in a harsh, evil way. His eyes were black, his hair was spiked up like the average American boy, and he was wearing an all-black suit. I looked him up and down once more before approaching.

"Hello, Damon Salvatore. It is nice to make your acquaintance. Katherine has told me so much about you," the man smiled at me, and I did not smile back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I barked at him. He continued smiling at me, like he already knew what I was going to say. I didn't like this, not one little bit.

"You will take me to Elena, Salvatore. If you don't, I will kill her entire family. You are powerless to stop me, so don't even try," his smile faded, and became serious.

"You're Klaus, aren't you? Well, even if I am powerless against you, you will not touch Elena, not while I live," I started to crouch, ready to attack at any moment.

"Why must you make it difficult for yourself, Salvatore? If I wanted to kill you, I would have but I will if I have to. You and your weak brother," Klaus appeared to have moved closer to me, and I was getting uncomfortable.

"Leave Stefan out of this!" I shouted. Bringing Elena into this had started the fire, but bringing Stefan into this created an explosion. I may hate Stefan, but the only person who was going to torture and kill him was me.

Klaus laughed again, "You really do not want to mess with me, Salvatore. Bring the girl to me by Christmas Day or You, Stefan, and Mystic Falls will be destroyed. Think it over, will you?" and with that, he disappeared.

He left me standing in the middle of the forest, petrified. Klaus was an original, and had been after Elena for weeks. But this time, he had come into my town. This time, he had spoken to me himself and had threatened Elena. He was not going to get away with this.

I ran quickly through the forest, forgetting about the tree, back to the boardinghouse. When I got there, Stefan and Elena were sitting together on the couch, and Elena was frowning at me.

"Where is the tree, Damon?" asked Stefan, seeing how sad that Elena was and needing to figure out why.

"The tree isn't important. Klaus is here," I replied, slumping onto the couch beside them and wiping my sweating brow.

"What! What does he want?" asked Elena.

"You. He said if he doesn't have you by Christmas Day, he will destroy us and Mystic Falls."

"We have to stop him, Damon, before he gets to her!" exclaimed Stefan. He looked angry, no, pissed. I had never seen Stefan this mad before, and frankly, it frightened me. 

"Stefan, are you totally insane? He is an original, you know that. Nothing can kill them!"

"I realize that, Damon, but do you really think that I am going to allow him to kill the woman I love? Do you think I am going to allow him to use her ? I don't think so. We have to protect her!"

"I know that, Stefan. But we can't do it alone. We need…."

"Don't even say her name! We can't let her out, not now. She is a danger to the town."

"What if it means the difference between keeping Elena alive and her being dead? What then, little brother?"

"ENOUGH! You two need to stop fighting! I'm sick of it!"Elena screamed.

"Elena, please…." Stefan said quietly.

"No Stefan, you just be quiet. If letting Katherine out means Mystic Falls being saved, then you do it. I don't care what she does after, because we can just have Bonnie spell her into the tomb."

"That is not an option, Elena."

"Then what is? Are we going to use Tyler and Caroline? What about Bonnie? I won't risk anyone else for this. If Katherine dies, then we have another problem taken off our hands as well as taking care of Klaus. Please Stefan, it's the only way…." Elena pleaded with my stubborn brother, but even I know that it does no good. Once Stefan has his mind on something, you can't change it.

"She's right, Stefan. We need her. Just listen to someone besides yourself for once, ok?"

"What makes you think she won't just run as soon as we let her out?" asked Stefan.

"She won't, or she dies. If she's that weak, then it would be an easy kill."

" It's settled then. We let Katherine out of the tomb. Tonight," Elena exclaimed.

Stefan ran to get Bonnie and I ran with Elena and Caroline to the tomb. I set Elena down across the room from the door of the tomb, and slowly slid the stone out of the way. Katherine was waiting, looking starved and bony, and staring hungrily at Elena. Caroline stepped in front of Elena then, ready to protect her friend.

"Don't even think about it, Katherine. There are 2 of us, and one weak little you," I teased her.

"What do you want, Damon?"

"Well, Katherine, I want your help, believe it or not."

"Ha-ha. The great Damon Salvatore asking me for help? Now, that's a first!"

"Shut up, Katherine. You are the only one who knows anything about Klaus, and if you don't help us kill him, then we will kill you. You can sit and rot in here for the rest of eternity."

"Anything would be better than this. I'm sssttttaaarrrvvviiinnnggg!"

"Well then wait until Bonnie gets here and then you can come out. But only if you promise to help. You are way stronger than Caroline, and we'd be lucky to even survive this with your help. "

"Hey!" shouted Caroline, offended.

"Relax, Caroline. I just mean that since you aren't a human drinker, you won't be as strong as Katherine and I will be, and Stefan, to a certain extent."

Caroline sulked as we waited for Bonnie and Stefan to arrive. Stefan was unnecessarily slow, even for a vampire. Formalities such as greetings and well wishes were his downfall when it came to being somewhere; his politeness made him late. I almost wondered if he and Bonnie were still chatting in her doorway or window ledge or whichever entrance to her house that he chose.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Stefan. Katherine is dangerous," Bonnie whispered, afraid that Katherine would hear her. Katherine could always hear what people were saying or thinking.

"Relax Bonnie, I'm sure Damon has already threatened to kill her if she tries anything. Besides, she is weak and frail. She can't hurt us now."

Stefan helped Bonnie over to the door of the tomb, and Bonnie sat on the ground. She took a small book out of her pocket, flipped a few pages, and started rocking back and forth, muttering in some incomprehensible language. Her nose started to bleed, but before we knew it, the spell was done.

"It will be easier to get her back in once this is over," Bonnie said, smiling, as she wiped the blood from her face.

Katherine stepped slowly and surely out of the tomb, holding onto the wall as she did. She was quite weak, and would definitely need something, or someone, to drink. Elena stepped closer, reaching into her purse cautiously as she did, and pulled out a bottle of what appeared to be blood. She tossed it into Katherine's waiting hands, and without hesitating, Katherine opened the bottle and drank the whole thing in under a minute.

Stefan and I quickly jumped in front of Elena, preparing for the attack. We knew Katherine too well to suspect that she wouldn't do anything other than betray us. But she just stood there, bottle in hand, looking at us.

"I want Klaus gone just as much as you do. If it means cooperating with you guys and tolerating Elena for a few days, I'm ok with that," Katherine smiled weakly at us. Stefan and I looked at each other and nodded, deciding that Katherine was telling the truth. We stepped away from Elena, and made our way out of the tomb with Bonnie, Caroline, Katherine, and Elena.

Once we were back at the boardinghouse, I ushered all of our guests into the sitting room.

"We need to discuss the best way to handle this. We can't draw suspicion; the town needs to have some element of normalcy this holiday season," Stefan was the first to speak.

"Ok, I know I haven't exactly earned your trust in the past, but you need to trust me now. If we are going to take Klaus down, we are going to need to train, we need to load up on vervain and make it the strongest ever made, and we will need cherry wood. Klaus may be strong, but it will be an easy kill if we can do these things. The wood, once plunged through his heart, will start to kill him. Then, we weaken him further with vervain. Finally, we tear him to pieces and burn him," Katherine stated as we all listened carefully.

"Ok, there is only one problem with this. Cherry wood had not grown around here, or anywhere in Virginia, for more than 200 years. Where are we going to find it?" I asked.

"Canada. Just north of the Quebec border. There is a small forest that still has a few cherry trees growing in it. Besides, these cherry trees aren't like others. They've been spelled by a witch in case Klaus ever came back," Katherine said.

"Exactly how powerful is this wood?" Elena asked.

"Powerful enough that if stabbed through Klaus' heart, it will shrivel slowly. That is what the vervain is for. Once we've staked him, we pour the vervain over his skin to weaken him even more. That is when Damon and I rip him apart and we burn the pieces," Katherine's skin started to look more colorful as the blood sunk into to her tissues.

"It's settled then. We get the materials tomorrow and finish him off. A quick run to Canadian territory should be easy" I jumped up from the couch and headed for the door. I left immediately for the border, grabbing a blood bag as I left, and headed to Canada.


	2. Chapter 2

December 24

Getting to Canada was the easy part. It took a grand total of about 20 minutes to get there. The hard part was cutting a bit of the tree. I had brought my strongest knife, and that wouldn't do it. I tried ripping it with my bare hands, and that wouldn't work. I only had one more option: bite it off.

After I had acquired the wood, I ran quickly back to the boardinghouse, throwing the branch onto the pile of things we would need to take Klaus down. Katherine had already made the vervain in the quantity that we needed, and Stefan was sitting in the corner, drinking a bag of blood.

"Off the wagon, little brother? Good. I'm proud of you," I smirked at him. He continued to drink and ignored me.

"Katherine, where is Elena?" I asked.

"What do you mean? She's at her house."

"I thought she would be here to help prepare. She isn't safe at her house, Katherine."

"She insisted on going back to get ready for the Lockwood annual Christmas Party. She says that Klaus wouldn't dare attack in a crowd full of people, especially at a party attended by the founder's council, who happen to be vampire hunters."

"We shouldn't have left her alone!"

"Don't worry, Damon, Bonnie is with her. Don't you remember that she can explode a vampire's brain if she feels threatened?"

"But will that work on Klaus?"

I grabbed the wood and started to carve it into the shape of a stake. I thought about Elena, and wondered if Stefan could hear my thoughts. What would I get her for Christmas? Maybe saving her life was enough, but I wanted to do more. It was mine and Stefan's fault that she was in this situation, and I felt the need to do something…..nice.

"Well, boys, get dressed. We're going to hunt a vampire at the Lockwood's," Katherine said, gathering up our supplies in her arms. I had just noticed that she was wearing a holiday dress.

Stefan dropped his blood bag and ran up stairs to get dressed. I walked quickly to my room, pulling on a suit. By the time I went back downstairs, Katherine and Stefan were waiting for me. Katherine was wearing a little red mask, just enough to cover her eyes so that nobody would know who she was, or who she looked like. We ran to the Lockwood house, not bothering to take a car. Katherine carried all of our things in a purse that looked much too small to hold what we put in it.

We arrived at the party just as Elena did, and as soon as I saw her, my jaw dropped.

Her hair was curled ever so slightly, and she wore a white dress that looked like it belonged to a Greek goddess. She walked gracefully towards us, well, towards Stefan, and took his arm. They walked into the party, leaving Katherine and I alone.

"Love sucks, doesn't it?" she asked me.

"Yeah, it really does."

"They will never break up, will they?"

I smiled a bit at Katherine's intelligence, because she was of course, right. Elena would never be mine, and Stefan would never be Katherine's. We were alone.

The party was unnecessarily long and just 1 hour in, it got so boring that I wanted to take a nap. But that was when the trouble started. Katherine and I were sitting in a corner, trying to not look conspicuous when Stefan ran up to us, a look of worry spread across his face.

"Have you guys seen Elena?" he asked worriedly.

"No, we thought she was with you…" Katherine said.

"She isn't. She left to go to the bathroom and hasn't been back yet. It's been 30 minutes!"

Just then, I heard a terrible laugh. Klaus's laugh. He appeared suddenly in front of us, holding Elena's limp form in his hands; there were small fang puncture wounds in her neck.

"I decided not to wait till Christmas to have her," Klaus laughed.

I ran at Klaus, trying to take Elena's body from him, but he was too quick.

"GRAB THE STAKE, KATHERINE!" I shouted, finally catching Klaus, but not before he had his hands around my neck.

Katherine reached quickly into her bag, retrieving the stake I had carved earlier, and lunged at Klaus. Stefan was on his back, his arms around Klaus' neck, but to no avail. Klaus was too strong, and it didn't help that he had just filled up on Elena. We weren't going to win this fight.

"If you silly children wanted to fight, all you had to do was ask. But not here. Tonight, in the forest, by the old Salvatore house," Klaus laughed, grabbed Elena's body, and disappeared.

"WHY WOULD YOU LET HER GO OFF ON HER OWN, YOU LITTLE FOOL!" I jumped at Stefan, my fangs out, and hands ready to choke. He didn't fight me, but I felt a sharp pain in my back the moment I reached my little brother.

"Do you think that is going to help, Damon? He feels bad enough as it is!" Katherine clawed at my back, attempting to get me away from Stefan. It finally worked, causing me to release Stefan's neck. He began to cry.

"It's all my fault! It's all my fault!" cried Stefan, slumping to the floor and putting his head in his hands.

"Stefan, it's not the time for that. We need to go and find Klaus before he kills her. You wouldn't want that, now would you?" Katherine bent down to comfort him, putting his face in her hands and brushing away a tear on his cheek. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him.

We left, promptly, for the boardinghouse. Stefan immediately went to the blood bag fridge he kept in the basement and retrieved several bags. He tossed 2 to Katherine and I, and kept 4 four himself. We downed them quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to go. Running faster than we ever had before, we headed for the old Salvatore property in the forest. He was already waiting for us.

Elena was tied to one of the gate posts, her dress torn at the hem and her neck covered in blood. She looked up at us, sadly, and then passed out.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?" Stefan shouted, preparing to attack. I was already crouching, ready to spring at him.

"What have I done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! You are the one who brought her into our world… I am just pleased that I will be the one to take her out of it," Klaus laughed hysterically.

I lunged at him, reaching for his throat while Katherine got out the stake. She was in front of me before I knew it, and we were both trying frantically to get Klaus into a position where the other could kill him. Stefan was trying to untie Elena, but Klaus was using his mind to keep him away. Elena was still passed out, which only fueled my fire. I tried harder and harder now to choke him, but he managed to send me flying over to where Elena was.

Katherine and Klaus were struggling; it looked like a beautiful, but deadly, dance. Katherine had the stake in one hand, and her other was around Klaus's waist. Klaus had one hand around Katherine's throat and one hand in her hair, trying to pull her away from him. I wasn't concerned with that. I crawled over to Elena, and stood up. Stefan was still resisting the power of Klaus' mind, but I was strong enough to get close to her. I stroked her cheek with my hand, hoping to bring some sort of comfort to her.

"Damon?" she asked, her voice weak.

"I'm here, love. Don't worry, you're safe. I'm here," I whispered to her, feeling a tear form at the corner of my left eye.

"Damon?" she asked again, her voice slightly weaker this time. I knew she would pass out again soon.

I kissed her cheek, gaining of look of loathing from Stefan, and ran back into the fight. Katherine had the stake pointed at his heart, but Klaus was too strong. I tried to help her, but this time, she was the one who threw me towards Elena.

"STAY OUT OF THIS DAMON! I HAVE HIM!" she shouted, trying desperately to shove the stake into Klaus' chest.

I watched from beside Elena as the deadly dance continued. Katherine brought the stake closer to his heart, and finally, managed to plunge it in. But at the same time as Katherine stabbed him, Klaus reached up through Katherine's chest and grabbed her heart.

"NO!" shouted Stefan, breaking free of Klaus' mind and running to Katherine. I stayed with Elena, not wanting to be involved.

Both Katherine and Klaus fell to the ground, grasping at their chests. Katherine pulled Klaus' hand from her chest, thankfully keeping her heart where it belonged, but Klaus was not so lucky. He grasped at his chest, unable to pull out the stake.

"Gr..Gra..Grab the vervain," Katherine told Stefan. He immediately ran to her bag, which lay a few feet away, and pulled out the vervain. Katherine crawled a few inches away, and Stefan poured the vervain all over Klaus. His skin began to burn, not literally, but that is what it would feel like to him.

"Des…Destroy him, Stefan," Katherine cried; it pained her even to speak.

Stefan went around to the side of Klaus and began to tear him apart. First his arms came off, then his legs, then his head. And before I knew it, I was looking at the burning mass that was once Klaus. Stefan was with Katherine, blotting at the blood that continued to run out of her chest.

"We'll call Bonnie and have you fixed up in no time, Katherine. You are going to be ok..." Stefan cried.

"I guess this means you….you love me then?" she asked him.

"I guess it does. All that time spent in the tomb with you, and the fact that you were willing to die for Elena, that makes me love you. You are not bad, Katherine, and I'm sorry it took you almost dying for me to see that. "

Stefan brought Katherine's head up to his and kissed her, and while kissing her, he picked her up and ran in the direction of the boardinghouse. I stayed with Elena, who had opened her eyes a few moments ago, and had seen Stefan kiss Katherine.

"I guess…I guess Stefan and I are done then?" she asked me calmly.

"It does…"

"Damon, I need to tell you something…" she said, wheezing. I guess Klaus hadn't just drank from her, he had also hurt her chest as well.

"Oh love, don't speak. I know what you are going to say."

"How?"

"Because I love you, Elena."

"I love you too, Damon. You saved my life, more than once, and I will always be grateful for it."

I untied her quickly and swept her up in my arms. I bent my head down to hears and kissed her. It was the most amazing moment of my existence; her lips were so warm against mine and sweeter than anything I could ever imagine. I ran, carrying my love, back to the boardinghouse.

Bonnie and Caroline were waiting for us, with Bonnie chanting over a passed out Katherine and Stefan sitting quietly beside her, holding her hand. I gently set Elena down on the couch opposite Katherine and waited for Bonnie to finish.

"I don't see why you guys didn't just call me!" Caroline whined, but I shot her an angry look and she was silent.

Bonnie finished her spell on Katherine, resulting in her being completely healed. She sat up, and upon seeing Stefan teary eyed beside her, practically jumped into his arms and kissed him. At the end of the kiss, Stefan looked sadly at Elena and then at me.

"She's not mad, is she, Damon?" he asked.

"No, Stefan. She's not mad, because she has me. We love each other, Stefan."

He smiled gratefully at me before returning to kissing Katherine and before I went back to gazing at Elena. Bonnie was in the process of healing her, and before I knew it, Elena was sitting up. I moved Bonnie out of the way once Elena had said her thanks, and sat beside Elena on the couch. She looked at me, lovingly, in a way that I had only dreamed about. I bent down and kissed her gently, fearing that I would hurt her.

"I love you, Damon."

"I love you too, Elena. Always and forever."


	3. Chapter 3

Christmas Day (December 25)

"Come on, Elena! You don't want to miss opening presents, do you?" I stroked Elena's barely awake cheek on the bed beside me. She had spent that night with me, and we had talked all night.

"Fine, I will get up. Is there going to be breakfast?" she asked sleepily.

I smiled mischievously at her, pulling her into a sitting position and kissing her. She kissed back hungrily, as if she had been waiting to do this for so long. I enjoyed every moment of it. I had gotten what I wanted after so long, and was so unbelievably happy that Elena wanted me too.

When I had finally coaxed her out of bed, we went downstairs. Katherine and Stefan were already sitting on the couch, clearly waiting for us to get our lazy selves out of bed. There were lots and lots of presents under the tree that I had run out and gotten while Elena was asleep. Elena went and sat on the couch opposite Stefan and Katherine, and smiled at them.

"What were you two up to last night?" Katherine asked mischievously, smiling at Elena.

"We could hear YOU guys through the wall," Elena laughed. Stefan's cheeks turned bright red, and Katherine and I started to laugh.

"I say we open some presents!" I shouted.

"AGREED!" shouted Katherine, Stefan, and Elena in reply.

I acted as gift distributor, handing out presents; there seemed to be none under the tree for Katherine.

"Kat, there seems to be nothing…" I was cut off mid-sentence by Katherine, waving her hand in my direction, showing me an overly large diamond on a beautiful ring.

"OH MY GOD!" Elena screamed, throwing herself at Katherine in an attempt to hug her. Katherine eagerly accepted her hug, and Stefan laughed at the two of them.

"This is a real turnaround from a month ago…You guys hated each other!" I laughed.

"Well, when someone saves someone's life, you have to be grateful. And besides, we only hated each other because we had to. We've decided to be friends," Elena laughed, looking up at me as I smiled down at her.

I continued to hand out presents, reaching into my pocket to make sure that my gift for Elena was still in there, and finally, when all gifts were opened and paper was scattered all over the floor, I went to Elena and knelt beside her. She gazed at me, wide eyed, but happy.

"I love you, Elena Gilbert. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?" I asked, looking directly into her eyes. She bent down, kissed me, and said the only word I ever wanted to hear:

"Yes!"


End file.
